COLLEGE STATION - If recent scores are indicative of the immediate future, Texas A&M will lose by 100 points on Saturday at Texas Tech.

That's not likely to happen, of course, but then nothing seems out of the realm of possibility after Kansas State led the favored Aggies 59-0 early in the third quarter on Saturday night in Manhattan, Kan., en route to a 62-14 victory.

Only a week earlier, the Red Raiders had destroyed the Wildcats 66-14 in Lubbock. Meaning there's a 100-point swing between the two games, with the Aggies set to pay a visit to Tech at 6 p.m. on Saturday.

"We just didn't handle the adversity in the game real well," a mystified A&M coach Mike Sherman said in trying to pinpoint exactly what happened at KSU. "Things just snowballed on us."

And now Sherman, in his second season, is under severe scrutiny from a fraught fan base for an awful showing against a team that wasn't supposed to be as talented as A&M. He understands as much, following the Aggies' most embarrassing game since they lost 77-0 at Oklahoma in 2003 in Dennis Franchione's first season.

The Aggies (3-3 overall, 0-2 Big 12) started the season with three victories over lightweights New Mexico, Utah State and Alabama-Birmingham. They've since lost three straight to Arkansas, Oklahoma State and KSU - a direct link to the schedule toughening.

It doesn't get easier from here. A&M faces No. 21 Tech on the road, returns home for a Halloween game against Iowa State and goes on the road to Colorado and No. 25 Oklahoma.

"We've got to handle the adversity," quarterback Jerrod Johnson said. "We took a pretty good shot on the chin. We have to come back and keep fighting."

A year ago, the Aggies finished 4-8 and lost their last three games to OU, Baylor and Texas by a combined 98 points, prompting questions about the acumen of Sherman, who calls the offense, and defensive coordinator Joe Kines.

Those questions have bubbled to the surface again following Saturday's 48-point loss, A&M's largest setback since the 77-0 game. OU was favored by 31 points in that contest six years ago. The Aggies were favored by about five on Saturday.

Sherman pledged after last year's 49-9 loss at rival UT capping the 4-8 campaign that, "We will not go through this again."

The Aggies are dangerously close to doing so if they don't regroup quickly - with the toughest part of their schedule still ahead.

"We're going to take a hard look at this game," pass rusher Von Miller said, "and get this fixed."

A&M fans, worn from years of losing under Franchione (19-21 against the Big 12) and now Sherman, will believe it when they see it.